Children's home run by Gracebridge Care

Inspection report for children's home: 2556128 1 Registered provider: Gracebridge Care Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

Ofsted registered the home in December 2019. The home is owned by a private company. It is registered to care for four children. The home specialises in caring for children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a new manager in post who has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2556128 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/05/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2556128 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress due to the positive relationships they have with staff. Staff strive to build positive relationships with children and know them exceptionally well. Children like living in the home and are positive about how staff support their progress. One child said that staff were calm and had helped him with communication, which has had a positive impact on his behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to achieve in their education. When children do not receive full-time education, the manager challenges the relevant professionals to ensure that children can access suitable education provision.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s health needs are met. They make prompt referrals for specialist health services, such as speech and language therapy, when required. When children move into the home, staff identify any health needs quickly and ensure that children are registered with the relevant health services and attend any necessary appointments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Transitions into and out of the home are well managed. One child was moving to supported accommodation during the inspection. Staff did a presentation for the child to celebrate the progress he had made since he moved into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff undertake regular good-quality direct work with children on areas of relevance to children’s individual needs and risks. Children can give their views on their care in weekly children’s meetings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well decorated, warm and welcoming. It is spacious, with lots of separate living areas, which means that children can have space from each other when necessary. There are numerous photos around the home of the children enjoying various activities, which adds to the homely feel.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff understand children’s risks and vulnerabilities well. The home is very settled. On the rare occasions when children do not behave in the expected way or place themselves at risk, staff respond effectively.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

There have been very few missing-from-home incidents. When children do go missing, staff are proactive in searching for them and trying to contact them by phone. Staff have a good understanding of places where children may be and good working relationships with police. However, risk assessments lack clear guidance for staff about when and how they should report children missing from the home. This has not had any impact on children but clear guidance is important to ensure that all staff know what action they are expected to take when children leave the home. Inspection report for children's home: 2556128 4 Staff manage challenging behaviour well. They invest time in getting to know children and building positive relationships. Staff use these positive relationships effectively to help children regulate and manage their behaviour. Because of this, very few restraints are used. When they are carried out, they are low-level holds

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff understand their safeguarding responsibilities well and referrals are made promptly to the local authority designated officer when concerns are raised. However, managers do not always keep a full record of actions taken in response to complaints or allegations.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The manager is vigilant in ensuring health and safety checks are completed to ensure the home environment is safe. The home has won an award from an independent organisation for the quality of their health and safety checks.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Managers ensure that staff working in the home are safely recruited. This prevents unsuitable adults from working in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a new manager in post who has applied to register with Ofsted. She had worked in the home as the deputy manager before becoming the manager. As a result of this, she knows the home and the children well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has high aspirations for the home and the children who live there. She has effective monitoring systems in place and uses these and the independent visitor reports to continually improve the quality of care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a stable staff team in place, who have all worked in the home for a long time. Staff enjoy working in the home and feel valued and well supported. Because of this, staff remain working in the home and there is little staff turnover. This means that the staff team is experienced and that children receive consistent care from staff who know them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are up to date with required training and receive regular supervision and appraisals. Regular team meetings also take place, which provide staff with the opportunity to reflect on children’s care and discuss how the team can work best together.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers and staff have good working relationships with external professionals. Professionals spoke about good communication with the staff and about the positive progress children make in the home. A police community support officer commented that the home is ‘really nice, the staff are tight knit and there is a good culture within the staff team’. Inspection report for children's home: 2556128 5

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager ensuring that risk assessments contain specific detail about how and when staff report children missing from home. 31 March 2023

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s record of a notifiable event must include a description of the action taken and the outcome of any resulting investigation. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.14)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children's home: 2556128 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rear of Arden Lodge, 946 Warwick Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham B27 6QG

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Inspector

Sarah Billett, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2556128 7 to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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